Grip does not rule out Madrid job

England's assistant manager, Tord Grip, has refused to rule out the possibility of himself and Sven Goran Eriksson joining Real Madrid after the World Cup.

Eriksson is set to leave his role as England's head coach after this summer's finals in Germany and was recently one of seven men shortlisted by the Real president Fernando Martin to be the club's next manager.

Grip, 68, has been working alongside Eriksson since 1998 and it is likely the pair will continue their partnership after the World Cup.

Grip told the Swedish newspaper Lanstidningen: "Nothing is certain yet, but if something is going to happen I believe it will be within the next two weeks. It [Madrid] is only a rumour. Personally I think it would feel great to finish your career with such a big club."

Eriksson has also been linked with the job as coach of the South African national side as they prepare to host the 2010 World Cup and Grip added: "No doubt it would be very interesting to build their national team from scratch for four years, but nothing is certain."

Franz Beckenbauer, World Cup winner with West Germany as player and manager, believes England should not be despondentabout there being no English managers at the World Cup finals.

"England has a legendary tradition of great football managers as well, and I'm not just talking about the past," Beckenbauer said. "The fact that there aren't World Cup teams with English managers doesn't mean that your managers lack competitiveness. On the contrary, there are many World Cup-level managers in England. None the less, you shouldn't forget that you have a Swedish manager who has been doing a great job."